[Sean H]

I've heard that the Plainview's are the way to go for 9 volts and do plan to pick up four of them and a charger...if a Grado RA-1 I have coming this week works out for me. I want to use some regular 9 volt alkaline's for a while before investing in some Plainview's and a charger in the event the amp does not work out for me. The question is though, do the Plainview's really make a noteable improvement in sonics over alkaline's, so much so that the alkaline's might not show just what the amp is capable of? Or, is any sonic improvement from the Plainview's quite minimal? Anybody notice drastic improvements going from Alkaline's, or other rechargable 9 volts, to the Plainviews?

 

[yidimsum]

Using (2) Plainviews in a HPA-1 seemed to allow for a slightly more silent background compared to using the external plug-in PSU unit. Not sure if the Plainviews sound better then alkalines.

 

[iamdone]

The main advantage of NiMH rechargables over alkalines is NiMH hold their voltage until just before they die. Plus you can recharge them up to 1000 times. Alkalines slowly lose their voltage so the sound quality will deminish throughout the life of the battery. Both should sound almost the same when you 1st put them in. Plainview are supposed to have a charge of over 10 volts so they might sound even better but I haven't tried them yet.

 

[Sean H]

Ahhh, I see, thanks. That helps. I'm still curious about Plainview's being sonically better than other NiMH's. I know Hirsch has said he found the Plainview's sounded better than others, possibly due to the slightly higher voltage, but then again he even claims he is not quite sure if it could be amp dependent on that. Lucky for me it was the RA-1 he was talking about and that is the amp I have coming.

Regardless, I'm going to go for some Plainviews I guess.

 

[iamdone]

Well, I decided to get some Plainviews too since that seems to be what everybody around here uses.

I am currently using iPowerUS batteries. There is some debate as to whether it's nominal charge is 9v or 8.4v and even how long it last. I'll try some direct comparisons when they arrive and see if there is a noticeable improvement using the Plainview. Comparing the iPowerUS to the 24v power supply, the power supply provides a slight deeper bass and a hint of more volume at the same setting (test done on a maxed out Headsave Transit).